


The First Guardian

by Daeg



Category: Guardians of Childhood - William Joyce, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: AU, BlackIce, Headcanon, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Issues, M/M, Magic, Memory Loss, Slight canon change, Slow Burn, Whump, Will get to that mature rating soon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-04-11
Packaged: 2017-12-08 05:32:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daeg/pseuds/Daeg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Battle against Fear, Jack is led into the Hall of Guardians, where there is a door for each of them. </p><p>If so, why is there a sixth door?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Guardian

**Author's Note:**

> This changes the GoC/RotG universe a little bit, unfortunately if I told you what it changes I'd give away most of the plot, so please bear with me.
> 
> Eventually it will become Jack Frost/Pitch Black.
> 
> (Not beta-ed, nor is English my mother-tongue, sorry about any mistakes)
> 
> Edited out some mistakes and added a bit more of story to it.

The doors were intact.

 

North released a breath he did not know he had been holding, and turned to his friends behind him. "It is safe."

Tooth seemed to also be relieved by his news, while Bunny simply made a nonsense noise, as if saying 'was there ever any doubt?' The only one that seemed impressed, and even a bit curious was Jack. "What's safe?"

North gestured to the gigantic wooden doors behind him, and Jack followed the movement with his eyes, taking in the details they held.

The doors were taller than any of them, framed by a strong gold fringe that turned silver towards its end. Vibrant greens crusted along the seams, as if grass was growing from the wood itself, spotted with small colourful balls, followed by soft purples and blues that shone like bright scales, even with the little light the windows allowed into the room. Towards the centre of each door, the wood gained a rich red tone, and one could easily see nine reindeer prancing along the wooden ridges, a sparkling golden trail following them. Jack's eyes widened has he looked at the startling white dust that seemed to spread like soft snow over the knobs and salient parts of the gigantic frame and turned translucent like ice once it reached wood. The meaning of the imagery was not lost to him. "That... That's me."

"Very well!" North exclaimed. "Took Bunny lot longer to see!" The Guardian said, looking at Jack.

"It's grass!" The offended Guardian of Hope said. "And you can hardly see the eggs!" North laughed at his, joining his offended companion and patting him in the back.

"What does it mean?" Jack asked, pressing one hand to the heavy doors, amazed that the white dust under his hand felt as cold as freshly fallen snow.

"It is the Door of the Guardians." North said, pulling something from under his red shirt. "It leads to each of our rooms." He pulled a big golden key from it and took it to the door. "I was afraid Pitch would try to enter." he said, opening the doors to them.

"What? Wait, rooms? Why would Pitch want that?" Jack asked, already confused by the idea. Why would he even have a room here, in North's workshop. "And how come I have a room? How did you guys know I would join?"

"Oh Jack, that's not how it works." Tooth said, flying to him, a brilliant smile on her face. "When a new Guardian is chosen, they gain a room in the hall of Guardians. We didn't build it, it just came to be!"

"Quite true!" North had opened the doors, and Jack could see a big hallway past them. "Now come, it is time to see new room!" And with that he pulled Jack inside, and the other Guardians followed.

"So... I have a magical room?" he said, floating along side the others. The walls were made of tile of various colour, and each seemed to have a glow to it, even when the light didn't reach it.

"Yes, you crazy dingo, didn't you hear the first time?" Bunny poked him playfully, pushing him a bit. "Need to clean those ears better, ankle-bitter."

"Yes! Isn't this exciting?" Tooth intervened before both of them could start a fight. "When I first saw my room I couldn't believe it!" she flew around him, a few of her little fairies chirping after her. "It is a wonderful place! Leaving my _khaḍga_ there at first was bit hard, I kept thinking it would go missing, but no! It's safe there."

"Well, that is exactly what room is for!" North said, still leading them through the hall.

"Your Hadaga-what?" Jack made a face at the strange name.

"My sword!" Tooth replied, smiling even harder. "I don't really need it now do I?"

Jack stopped in the middle of the hall, surprised "You have a sword?!" He asked, fearing he had misheard.

"Yes, of course!" Tooth came to float a bit beside him, taking his arm and pulling him alongside her. "It got a bit in the way of flying and..." she blushed "I don't really need a sword to get teeth!"

"Guys, are you hearing this?" Jack asked the others, when they came to the end of the hallway, ending up in a round room with doors. "Tooth! A sword!"

"We heard you the first time, mate." Bunny said, and crossed his arms looking amused.

"Yes. Me and tooth used to spar many times. She is very good with sword." At North's words Tooth seemed to blush even more. "But she has mean punch, so no need for sword."

"So... You have a room just for your sword?" Jack asked, landing near Bunny and leaning on his Staff.

"Not just _one_ sword." She answered coyly. "We keep our valuables here, were no one can get to them." Tooth said, pointing at a door to his left. The pathway was similar in shape to the ones outside, but its wood was completely purple, and there was a rhombus at its centre, littered with countless yellow, orange, and green crystals. "That's my door!" she squealed with delight, flying to it. Jack smiled at her.

"Now." The Guardian of Wonder said, attracting Jack's attention "This is hall of Guardians." he said, standing near a red door. Jack didn't need to be told whose it was. Bunny had also left his side to stand near a green door. To his side there was a golden door that seemed to be made entirely out of sand, its guardian unfortunately was missing, having to leave to grant children good dreams.

His friends were smiling at him, and Jack found himself smiling too has he spotted his door. It seemed to be made completely out of glass, but Jack knew better. He flew close to it, and touched one of the icicles that grew downwards from the door frame. It was cold, but didn't seem any close to melting than the snow outside. "This is so cool." he couldn't help but to gasp.

"Open!" North encouraged, and Jack didn't waste any time, turning its ice handle and pushing it. The room inside was also made entirely out of ice, the purest most transparent frost that he had ever seen, so startling pure it looked like crystal. There were icicles strewn across the celling and a frozen pedestal right in the centre of the room. Even though the room had no windows, there was an unnatural glow to it, as if each gathering of ice shone by itself.

Jack was speechless for a few seconds, and didn't even notice the other guardians approaching his door, also curious to see what was inside.  
He was almost in tears when he spoke "This... This is amazing." he gasped out, moving towards the pedestal in the centre of the room, running a hand over it. He didn't exactly have a home, and to suddenly be given such a beautiful gift made the Ice Sprite happier than he had been in years.

"It is beautiful, Jack." North said, putting one hand over his shoulder. "When you need safe place to keep things, you leave them here." He said, pointing at the space around them.

Jack smiled warmly, showing them his staff. "Only have this for now, and I'm not leaving it!"

"I bet in no time you'll have something to keep here." Tooth cooed happily.

 

 

Jack and the others spent what little was left of the afternoon in Jack's room, until Sandy joined them. The small Guardian was also happy for Jack and together they spent some time playing with sand and ice in the room and making new icicles to decorate it until it Tooth announced that she needed to return to her fairies soon.

"I can come back any time right?" Jack asked North. The Older Spirit laughed and patted Jack again. "Of course, but not too many times. It might not be safe."

Suddenly Jack was reminded of what the other Guardian had said when they entered the hall. He had been so excited that he had nearly forgotten about it.

"Does that have to do with Pitch?" he asked, being the last one to leave his room, and gently closing the door behind him.

"Yes." North said seriously. "Not just Pitch. Many would try to enter these rooms and take our weapons to use against us." North seemed to sadden at his own words. "These doors are not easy to open by others, but if we are weak enough-" _weak like we were_ seemed to be left unsaid. "-they might be."

"Our weapons are part of us." Tooth added, flying near her purple door and opening it, quickly going inside to retrieve a sword. "They have powers in them, our power." she handed the sword to Jack as she spoke. Jack took the weapon, amazed by the uniqueness of its details. It had a golden hilt, but the blade was as colourful as Tooth herself. "It's very important that no one gets to them, ever." she repeated, also admiring it. "With time, your powers will grow, and with it, you'll create or be granted new tools to help you." He returned the sword to her, and she flew back to put it in place.

That was something Jack hadn't thought about. He looked at his door, and then at the others. It had been news to him that Tooth had a sword, though she clearly had shown skill with weapons during their fight with Pitch. He looked at Sandy and tried to imagine what other skills he might have fighting. Whatever it was, and whatever weapon he used, he didn't want to think about what an enemy might to to get to them.

He was about to follow the others out when he noticed something odd.

"Wait, guys?" he called back. He did a double take, starting at the doors. Even counted them with his fingers, but no, he wasn't hallucinating.

"What is it?" Bunny asked, behind him.

"There's a sixth door!" he said, and flew to it.

It was a Guardian door all right, he thought when he got to it. It was more or less the same shape as the others, but it was made of a strange golden metal. The material turned silver has it got near the centre, where it culminated in black shapes. Its decoration was all made of sharp lines that gave this door a sense of soberness the others didn't quite seem to have. Jack looked at the others and waited for an explanation, but none seem to come. They simply looked at each other as if asking themselves the same, yet they did not seem surprised.

"Well?" he asked, not wanting to wait any longer. "Whose door is this?"

"We do not know, Jack." North said, walking to him. "It has been here for as long as we remember."

"So... The Guardian..." he said, lightly touching the door, the metal cold and unyielding under his hand. He felt a pang of sadness run through him "He's dead?"

"Or she!" Tooth exclaimed all of a sudden, making Bunny roll his eyes.

"I do not know. We never could open the door, so I think he might still live." North said, scratching his chin pensively. "When we get weak the doors get weak. so when we die-"

"The doors should open." Jack finished. He knocked on the door with his staff, letting some of the metal frost over. "Doesn't the Man in the Moon know?"

"You know him, he doesn't yab." Bunny said, scratching a bit at the ice. "And this door is sealed tight. Tried to open it myself."

"You should have seen him, he ended up sore all over!" Tooth came over to him. "Complained for months."

"Yeah, yeah. What's this door made of anyway. This ain't no metal I know."

"It must be something important to Guardian." North said. Jack could tell he had formed some kind of idea of how the Guardian was over the years. "He must be very strong, very serious. But also very good. See how soft metal is? But it looks very sharp."

Jack ran his hand over one of the sharp edges and was surprised that what North said was true. He hadn't touched it before in fear of cutting himself, but it was very soft, like velvet.

"Maybe we could try again? Now that I'm here, I'm sure we can do it." Not to mention he was curious about who this lost Guardian might be. He had only ever heard of the big four, and if they themselves did not know... They had to try.

"Please? Just force it a bit?" He asked, pouting a bit when he thought the others might say no.

Bunny seemed to think about it, while Tooth gave Sandy a concerned look. North looked at him. "Why not try?" Sandy shrugged his shoulders. "Just a bit, if it not open, we stop."

Jack did not need to be told twice. He gave Bunny a look that clearly said _watch this_ , and the other guardian chuckled, giving him space.

He took the knob in his hand and started turning. It moved a few inches but then got stuck. He had been expecting that and pulled his sleeve over his hand to stop it from slipping, and kept trying to turn it.

"Mate, that'll never work." Bunny laughed lightly, leaning against a wall. "We tried that and much more. It got us nowhere."

But Jack didn't listen, he used both hands and pulled the door a bit to him, like he'd seen kids do when frost made their house doors stiff. He took a deep breath and got ready to push and twist.

"Ah, come Jack. It was good try. Let's have some hot cho-"

But North never finished, because in that moment the knob turned all the way, and Jack felt into the room, tripping over his staff and landing on his face.

"Well, I..." Bunny was speechless, and for a few seconds the only sound they could hear was that of Tooth's wings.

Jack picked himself from the floor and took in his surroundings while the others joined him inside the room. It was like one would expect by simply looking at the door. It was bright, but unlike Jack's room, it was lit with a golden light that left space for shadows to form. Heavy red curtains fell from the highest of ceilings, and once again Jack had a hard time believing that this room existed inside North's Workshop. It's walls were white, and the pedestals inside were made of dark, alsmost red wood. And unlike his, some of this room's pedestals were occupied with memorabilia, the most spectacular of them was right in the centre of the room.

"Oh wow..."

It was an armour, made for someone much taller and slimmer than any of them.  It was such a dark silver that it looked black, even in the light, and its corners were ran through with gold metal. Jack got closer and noticed the red cape that was attached to it. He couldn't help but to touch it, feeling the soft, yet strong fabric over his hands.

By then the others were exploring the room too. Sandy had found a claymore so tall that it was probably as big as North, and Bunny was inspecting a dark wooden table filled with small jars of all shapes and sizes. Meanwhile Tooth was inspecting some boots she found in a corner, before gasping, making everyone turn to her.

"What is it?" Jack asked, holding his staff high, ready to strike.

"Look at this!" Tooth turned to them, something white and pearly in her hand. A Teacup. "Isn't it lovely?"

Bunny sighed and turned back to the jars, clearly more interested in those, while North took the tea cup from Tooth's hands and examined it, before giving it to Sandy. "See? A serious warrior-" he looked at the armour in the centre of the room. "-But soft and good inside." he pointed at the cup. It must have been very important if he had chosen to keep it in this room, Jack thought.

"A man." Bunny said to Tooth, and it seemed to leave her feathers ruffled. "I won."

Jack almost didn't notice the exchange, having found a wooden box on top of a table that grabbed his attention. Like everything in the room, it was untouched by time, and did not look old except for the style. Jack ran his fingers over the lid, and turned to North.

"Does this mean he's dead?"

North set down a tea kettle gently "I do not know... I would think it means he is weak, very weak... But not dead."

Jack opened the lid, mildly disappointed that the box was empty but for a pillow with an oval shape marked on it inside. Something had been there. Did the Guardian take it? "Yeah, it did take a while to open..." he closed the lid again, making sure the box was in its due place. A feeling of dread began forming inside of him. "Shouldn't we look for him? If he's weak he might need our help."

"Now wait a minute-" Bunny said, finally abandoning the flask table. "We had the bloody fight of our lives, and where was he? I don't think he deserves our help, whoever he is."

"Now, Bunny-" Tooth started, and Sandy also started making symbols over his head, clearly wanting to give them his opinion. Soon the three of them were arguing quite actively and Jack wasn't sure if he should meddle or not.

"Enough!"

North's voice seemed to do the trick, and the three fell silent.

"True, he did not come. But he has been missing for centuries, we do not know if he even knows us!"

"Bloody hell he should!" Bunny started, shaking a bit of golden dust off his paws. "Everyone knows us!"

"Would you really not help someone in need, Bunny?" North asked, and for once Bunny seemed to not have an answer.

"We would help, Jack. But we do not know where he is." North patted his shoulder again. "Nor who he is."

Jack's shoulders slumped. It would be impossible to find him anyway, if the others couldn't after all these years. But... "But we made a breakthrough! I mean, we opened the door? We know how tall he is, and well, how he should act. The chances of finding him now are definitely higher!"

Sandy seemed to agree with this, and started forming pictures with sand above his head. He showed them a nest and then an armour with a sun and a moon circling behind them.

"Ah, yes. Sandy can look for someone that fits the armour when he gives good dreams." North explained. "But it will take long time."

"It's better than nothing!" Jack agreed, excited at the idea.

"What if he doesn't want to be found?" Tooth asked, pulling one of her fairies out of the tea kettle. "He left all of this here, and he's been missing for years." She took another fairy out of the kettle. "He could have been kidnaped... But it's been such a long time, he should have gotten away... Right?"

Jack hadn't thought about those possibilities. "Well, he can't hide the way he looks right? And look at that armour, it looks pretty tight. I doubt anyone but him fits in there."

North nodded. "I think you are right, young Jack. He will be easier to find. And I have grown curious about this knight in armour." He smiled at them. "We can do this."

Finally they agreed. Each would look for the knight near the place where they lived, without of course ignoring their duty. Everyone took their time looking carefully at each of the objects, committing them to memory. "If he gets better, the door will not open to anyone but him again" North had warned.

And so they left the room, closing the door firmly behind them.

Jack ran his hand once more over the hard metals of the frame, ice spreading under his fingertips, and whispered mirthfully to himself.

"We will find you. I promise."


End file.
